


A Perfect Night

by NemKess



Category: FAKE (Manga)
Genre: Angsty fluff?, M/M, Power Outage, fluffy angst?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 04:31:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17196575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NemKess/pseuds/NemKess
Summary: Two cops in NYC in the Great Northeastern Blackout of 2003.  Hey, as long as Ryo and Dee are together, everything will work out in the end.





	A Perfect Night

**Author's Note:**

> This was brought over from ff.net (where it was brought over from the FAKEmailinglist). It has been edited a bit and polished up. While I've edited out my original awkward attempts at incorporating anime-Japanese, it's really, really hard to get rid of the "Dee-sempai" from JJ. And when I say 'really really hard', I mean impossible. It's such a part of his character in both the manga and anime. Sorry. :x
> 
> This was written for the blackout challenge on the FAKEmailinglist. They wanted fics incorporating the great Northwestern Blackout of 2003. Also, it was written in the same basic time period and 9/11 is mentioned multiple times. I lived on a military base in NY when 9/11 happened and was living on a different military base in '03 so a lot of speculation got tossed around at the time that the blackout just 'had' to be a terrorist attack. The reality was that our shitty infrastructure struck again - droopy lines, outdated software, unmanaged foliage, and lack of awareness combined to cause a massive cascade failure that took out a HUGE chunk of the Eastern power grid. A lot of it for 2 days. But hey, why fix infrastructure when we can blame terrorists?

New York City just couldn't catch a break.

Less than a month shy of the two year anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, the Big Apple was once again plunged into chaos.

Detective Randy "Ryo" MacLean wasn't faring much better. The day had been long and he and his partner had been bickering off and on since they'd gotten to work that morning at the bright and early hour of eight a.m... Ryo had just spent the better part of two hours finishing up several lengthy reports on the antiquated computer at his desk. It was just after four and he was ready to go home.

"Hey, Ryo! You done yet?" The sandy haired detective rolled his eyes as his partner's voice sounded throughout the bullpen. Dee Laytner had to be the second loudest person he'd ever known.

"Dee-sempai! Are you coming to the bar with us? Are you? Please say you'll come! You never go out with the guys anymore. That's bad for department relations you know." And there was the honoree for the first loudest. Ryo watched in amusement as Dee tried to fend off the lavender haired cyclone that had just pounced on him.

There had been a time when he'd have gotten fiercely jealous at the display, but those days were past thankfully. If Dee hadn't strayed in almost five years, two of which he'd been forced into celibacy due to Ryo's own indecisiveness, he wasn't likely to do so at this late date. "Yeah, just let me save these reports and we can go."

The words had barely left his mouth when the computer screen in front of him went blank suddenly. Lights blinked out and fans whirred to a stop. "Ah. Dammit.”

Similar curses filled the room in a multitude of different voices. It was shift change, after all, and the bullpen was crowded.

"Eh? Something wrong?" He jumped at Dee's voice right in his ear.

With a sigh, he gestured the dead computer. "The reports I was working on? I'll have to redo them now."

They both paused for a moment as the emergency power cut back on, emergency lights washing the room in red. Since the air conditioners were part of the main system, they remained off and several of the officers began opening up all the windows.

Cocking his head to the side a bit, Ryo could see the annoyed look on his partner’s face. "Do it tomorrow. I'm ready to get outta here and we promised Bicky we'd pick him up at 5. We're gonna be cutting it close as it is. He shouldn't be walking in this heat."

Ryo had to smile. Who would have thought five years ago that the supposedly kid hating man he'd met would turn out to be such a paternal figure to his foster son? The week before Bicky had passed out from dehydration at the basketball courts that he and his friends favored. He was fully recovered, thankfully, but Dee had been hovering like an overprotective mother hen with her last chick ever since. "All right. Just give me a second, okay?"

"Hold that thought, MacLean." The pair turned at the sound of their Chief's voice. The older man was standing a few feet away looking over the bullpen. He raised his voice so that the entire room could hear him. "Listen up everyone! This power failure is not limited to the station. It's a city wide blackout and the report I just got indicated that NYC wasn't the only city affected." The detectives scattered around the room exchanged uneasy glances. "It would appear that the power grid for the entire Northeast, including some parts of Canada went down. Most public transportation - including the airports, subway, the rail, and the metro - is either down or limping along on their own limited resources in a city without working traffic lights."

Janet, who'd only recently been promoted from a patrol job, raised her hand and asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "Was it another attack, sir?"

Chief Smith shrugged. "At this point, I don't know. I don't think so, but who knows? What I do know is that without stop lights and subways, traffic is going to a bitch. So go find those shiny uniforms you're all so fond of. I've volunteered all of you to help out with directing traffic until power is restored."

"Chief?!" Cries of outrage filled the room. It wasn't that anyone minded helping out, they just didn't see why it had to be in uniform.

The old man glared at them. "Not a word! We don't want any riots or such. The police need to be out in visible force. You can't do that in civvies. Now move! Don't forget to stop at the desk downstairs to get your assigned area."

Grousing all the way, Dee followed Ryo down to the locker room where they both had uniforms stored. "Man, this bites. Five more minutes and we'd have been on our way home." His complaining came to an abrupt halt as soon as they walked outside. "Holy shit."

With a grimace, Ryo couldn't help but agree. Traffic in front of the police station was beyond snarled. It looked like the freeway during rush hour- and their station’s little corner of New York wasn’t even a high volume area. He could just imagine how bad it was elsewhere. "I guess we're walking."

"I guess we are." Sighing, Dee took off in the direction of their assignment. "It's times like this when I wish I owned a bike." 

Ryo made a mental note to buy them each one as soon as possible. Just in case.

It was easy to forget just how big the city was until being forced to walk around it. The little control corner they’d been assigned was on the very fringes of the 2-7 jurisdiction and damned close to the waterfront where the volume of people seemed to be greatest. It was just after 5 by the time they reached it and Ryo and Dee could barely push their way through, though most of the crowd seemed to be polite enough to try and make space for the officers in their midst. 

There just wasn't enough room.

They'd both grabbed the lighted traffic batons and soon both were on opposite sides of a dead traffic light, directing the tired motorists and pedestrians.

It was mind numbing work.

Time seemed to fly and when the sun began to sink off in the distance with no sign that power was going to be restored anytime soon, the pair were ready for a break. Ryo, being the more polite of the two, called in on the battery operated radio that hung from his belt. Within an hour, relief had shown up and directed them down the street to a deli that was still open.

"I hope Bicky is all right," Ryo fretted. When they didn't show up when they were supposed to, the teen would undoubtedly walk home. Even if he encountered no problems on the trip, the lack of power in their apartment was going to make it quite warm. And with the fridge and stove out as well…

Dee shrugged, though he too looked faintly worried. "He's a smart kid. And they've got to get the power on again soon, right?"

"Dee... What if it _was_ another attack?"

Before the dark haired man could answer, a passerby who'd heard the question stopped. "Oh, you haven't heard the news?" At their negatives, he continued. "Well, the radio said that they're still not sure what it was exactly, some kind of cascade failure or something. But they did say that it _definitely_ wasn't terrorists."

Both were greatly relieved to hear that. "Did they say when power would be back on?'

The pedestrian shrugged. "They're working as hard as they can I imagine. Twenty one power stations went down in three minutes, you know. The blackouts go all the up past Ontario and west to Cincinnati."

Their radios crackled to life and once again they were off.

The rest of the night was long and tiring. Candles lit for light had caused several fires. The streets were lined with people who'd made makeshift beds and pillows out of briefcases, newspapers, cardboard boxes, jackets and whatever else was at hand. All in all, the people were making the best out of things that they could.

Somewhere in the wee dark hours of the early morning, the call came over the radio that the 2-7 officers who had the morning shift could go home and sleep for a few hours before they had to be back into the station.

Having hop scotched all over the city, going from corner to corner as they were needed, Dee and Ryo were very far from home. They stared at each other for a moment before the Japanese American shrugged.

Looking around, they managed to find an unoccupied strip of grass in a nearby hotel front. Since the area was otherwise packed, the detectives considered themselves lucky.

A nice young woman with a rather large soft duffle bag pushed it over and offered to share the 'pillow' with them. Dee accepted with a charming smile and Ryo lay his own head on the other man's shoulder.

"G'night, Luvs."

"Goodnight, Miss," Ryo replied. Dee's own response was sleep muffled and indistinguishable. He'd fallen prey to Morpheus the second his head had hit the duffle.

"Long night?" she asked with a grin as she watched Dee snore away.

He met her grin with one of his own. Dee only snored like that when he was completely exhausted. Of course, he had a right to be. "Yes, ma'am. You could say that."

"Well, coulda been worse, ya know. You New Yorkers certainly know how to deal with a crisis."

"Thank you."

Conversation dissipated as the woman fell asleep herself, leaving Ryo to his own thoughts.

Snuggling closer to Dee he smiled again as strong arms wrapped themselves more tightly around him. Yes, it certainly could have been worse. As it was, he was hard pressed to imagine a more perfect way to end the night.

The stars sparkled over head- a sight probably never seen in the city in centuries- and he was cuddled close to the man he loved. Their earlier arguments had been forgotten.

He was still smiling when sleep found him.  
_fin_


End file.
